How to improve your speed.

This article provides an overview of the essential techniques needed to enable an athlete to run faster.

Increasing the speed of any athlete means improving one or both of the following elements:

1. Increase the number of steps an athlete takes per second, that is, their cadence.

2. Improve the effectiveness of each contact with the ground.

Increased cadence is most easily improved by reducing the amount of recovery time between strides. This means reducing the time it takes to lift your foot off the ground and return to the ground.

Athletes often compensate for their lack of knee lift by taking excessive strides (taking longer steps beyond their center of gravity) or pushing further back in an attempt to increase their power and thus the length of their legs. the stride

The problems with these techniques are as follows:

Increases recovery time, which translates into a lower stride rate.
Increases the load on the hamstrings (increasing the risk of injury)
Decreases knee lift as hips sink to allow for long recovery time. This results in less powerful foot contact.

Now that we have identified the problem, how do we fix it? Ultimately, how do I run faster?

This can be identified by improving 7 areas

Ankle foot strike.

Athletes should aim to strike the ground with a foot that is moving backwards.

Dorsiflexion.

In order for the athlete to strike an active foot strike and have rapid contact with the ground, it is essential that the athlete maintain ankle dorsiflexion (keep the toes as close to the shin as possible). This pre-stretches the calf muscles and prepares them for a much quicker and springier impact.

Arm swing.

The arm swing should involve the elbows swinging in front of the plane of the trunk. Not swinging them forward enough limits knee lift and results in more mechanics in the rear to compensate.

Lean forward.

Athletes should aim to run with a ‘slight’ forward lean throughout the body.

Head position.

Athletes must keep their heads down and their heads still.

Running High.

Athletes need to be able to ‘run high’. This means holding your head up as if your head is tied to an imaginary rope and your whole body is pulling up.

To help these, it’s crucial to improve your core stability muscles (abs, hips, pelvis, and rear) to allow you to implement the technique needed to run faster.

Relaxation.

It is of the utmost importance that athletes develop a relaxed run. This means focusing on the muscles needed for running and unplugging the muscles that are not used (for example, the muscles of the face, the muscles of the neck, and the tightness of the shoulder muscles).

heel position.

The leg should be bent back during recovery (not extended behind the body). Therefore, butt kicking where the ankle comes out behind the body is incorrect and detrimental to proper running technique. When performing glute kicks, make sure the knee is forward when the foot is closest to the rear.